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| Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer discusses the plans for the Gloucester Premium Outlets along Zimmerman Road, Monday, July 15, 2013. (Staff Photo by Lori M. Nichols/South Jersey Times) |
Gloucester Township is considering offering a tax abatement to the developers of a proposed premium outlet mall slated for 55 acres on Route 42, according to Gloucester Township Patch.
Mayor David Mayer told Patch that the area is in a redevelopment zone which would allow the developers — Simon Management Associates and PREIT-Rubin, Inc. — to seek a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, plan.
The developers were given final site plan approval by the Gloucester Township Planning Board on Tuesday to construct the 450,000-square-foot mall just off of College Road.
“We hope there will be shovels in the ground in September,” Mayer told the South Jersey Times recently, adding the goal is to have it open by November 2014 for the holiday shopping season.
The developers have previously constructed the Cherry Hill Mall, Voorhees Town Center and Jersey Shore Premium Outlets, among other up-scale retail centers.
According to the site plan, approved by the township council in March, Gloucester Premium Outlets could include upscale, designer fashion, sportswear, shoes, fine leather, luggage, jewelry, housewares and home furnishing, specialty items and food merchants. Four food kiosks are also planned for the site, which will evoke a green “town center” in the heart of it.
The outlets would be located off the new highway interchange near Camden County College.
“I think what Simon is looking for a workable, feasible project,” Mayer said. “It’s not unheard of that developers get approval for a project and then pull out.”
According to Mayer, the developers said they are committed to opening the outlets in the fall but a PILOT is still being seriously considered.
Under a PILOT plan, taxes typically are not paid to the school district, and a different, smaller payment plan is set up to pay a fee directly to the municipality.
In neighboring — and often competing — Washington Township, the developers behind a mixed used town-center-style project that would include retail, residential and office space have repeatedly requested a PILOT before moving forward with construction.
However, their most recent request was rejected by the Washington Township Council in a 3-2 vote on July 10. The proposed project included 70,000 square feet of retail space, 90,000 square feet of office space, 330 apartments and 100 townhomes. The townhomes, which would be bought instead of rented, were exempt from the PILOT agreement.
The developers in Washington Township have said that without the PILOT agreement, the project would not come to fruition.
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